The case of Capogrossi in Rome: criteria and limits in the retouching process of a contemporary mural painting

Abstract

This paper focuses on the reintegration treatments studied for a contemporary mural painting, which was designed and carried out by the Italian artist Giuseppe Capogrossi in 1954. This forgotten masterpiece is located on the ceilings of the main double staircase at the entrance of the Airone, an ex-cinema theatre in Rome, which was designed and planned during the Fifties by the famous architects Adalberto Libera, Eugenio Montuori and by the engineer Leo Calini. After a brief introduction based on the conservation history of the building and on the painting itself, it will be described criteria and limits in the reintegration process of a sample area of this highly degraded polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) based mural. The materials selected in the reintegration project, based on natural polymers and synthetic polymers, will be theoretically compared with one another and it will be explained why some of these could be appropriate and effective, while others could not chromatically work in this particular case.

Keywords

• Capogrossi
• contemporary mural painting
• retouching techniques
• synthetic polymers
• natural polymers
• pilot methodology